But that raises questions about whether the city should be able to determine its own priorities, or whether it should rely on the largess of another entity. “It does strike one as an unusual power dynamic that speaks to the need to revisit that structure,” Amy Glovinsky, president and CEO of BGR, a nonpartisan research group, said last week.

The city will be picking up about $16 million of the cost of the plan, with the rest being born by the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The convention center is a state entity with its own taxing power that has come under criticism from the non-partisan Bureau of Governmental Research for maintaining a $200 million reserve, which the group has argued could go toward other more urgent needs in the city.

We share some of the reservations of the Bureau of Governmental Research, www.bgr.org, about long-term bond issues for street repairs that might last, at best, for the length of the bond payments. Still, BGR is for the bond issue because of the “abysmal” condition of New Orleans streets.

Residents throughout the city were skeptical of providing more funding to the NOPD, even as groups such as the Bureau of Governmental Research, the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region and public employee unions came out in favor of the plan.

This Saturday New Orleanians will have a chance to vote on new taxes intended to improve public safety and settle long-standing debts to the fire department. The nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research issued a report on the vote, saying the increases are needed, lest other programs be cut.

“Approval of the tax would represent a major commitment by taxpayers to give the troubled Police Department the resources necessary to rebuild its ranks, reduce response times and provide better public safety outcomes,” the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) wrote in its endorsement of the millage. The BGR cautioned, however, that the City Council would have to play watchdog to make sure benchmarks are met. We agree.

In addition to Landrieu and the firefighters, the millage increases have been endorsed by other labor unions, the nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research and two high-profile business groups, Greater New Orleans Inc. and the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region.

The property tax increase has also received the support of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Bureau of Governmental Research, Greater New Orleans Inc. and the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region. So far, no organized opposition to the measure has emerged.

The Bureau of Governmental Research this week endorsed a pair of ballot initiatives that would permit the city to issue $120 million in bonds and raise property taxes dedicated to public safety by a combined 7.5 mills, generating about $26.6 million annually.

“The City Council and administration must hold the NOPD accountable for achieving its goals and carefully calibrate funding to the department’s true needs,” the report says. “The goals should include increasing the number of officers assigned to calls for service.”

The Bureau of Governmental Research has come out in support of two tax proposals on the April 9 ballot in New Orleans, one to increase funding for police and firefighters, the other to pay for street repairs and other improvements.

The need for bolstering policing in the French Quarter is apparent, according to statistics compiled by the Bureau of Governmental Research. That nonpartisan watchdog group, which supports the tax plan, found that crime in the French Quarter had jumped 55 percent overall between 2010 and 2014.

The temporary sales tax is a smart approach. “Creating a sales tax to fund additional security in the Quarter will improve safety for residents and tourists alike, while appropriately allocating the cost burden,” BGR said.

“We actually like the fact that there’s a five-year sunset on this tax because it gives the voters an opportunity to come back in five years and reassess: Where are we? Do we need this tax anymore? Has the NOPD built up its ranks to the point where there’s no longer a need for this?” said BGR President and CEO Celeste Coco-Ewing.

The nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research offered its support Tuesday for a proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase on French Quarter businesses to pay for a detachment of State Police troopers dedicated to New Orleans’ hallmark neighborhood.

BGR said in a report released Tuesday that the five-year dedicated sales tax boost, while a “novel approach” to funding neighborhood law enforcement, “makes sense as a stopgap measure” in a district where an estimated 9 million tourists visited last year but only about 3,800 people live.

“The French Quarter is the heart of the city’s tourist economy,” writes the BGR in its report, which points out the neighborhood has seen a 55 percent increase in crime over the past four years. “Creating a sales tax to fund additional security in the Quarter will improve safety for residents and tourists alike, while appropriately allocating the cost burden.”

“There’s a serious misalignment between powers and responsibilities,” said Janet Howard, who as president of the Bureau of Governmental Research would have a seat on Morrell’s proposed commission. “The city is responsible for picking up the tab for inmates, and the jail is run by someone other than the city. This is clearly creating serious problems.”

The panel would consist of state lawmakers, the sheriff, the mayor, the NOPD superintendent, the chairperson of the City Council’s criminal justice committee, the New Orleans inspector general and leaders of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce, the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, the Public Affairs Research Council, the Bureau of Governmental Research and the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce.

The acrimony between Landrieu and Gusman underscores the need for objective analysis, and that’s where institutions such as the Inspector General’s Office and the Bureau of Governmental Research can play important roles.

In his legislative address before the Bureau of Governmental Research, Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for an end to young male black-on-black violence. “We need to stop the killing,” the New Orleans mayor declared. “When I give this speech, people feel helpless. We’re not.”